Meet the Staff
Rev. Molly Phinney Baskette
Senior Minister: Reverend Molly Baskette
Molly has been with us since November 2003. A lifelong UCC’er, she earned her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1996. She spent a year after graduation in service to the Casa San Jose Orphanage in Colima, Mexico where she found a second home. Though gringo by birth, she has adopted all things Mexican, from musica salsa to the tomato-and-chipotle kind. She was ordained upon her return from Mexico in 1998, when she went to serve a large suburban church on the North Shore for five years.
A native of Boston’s North End and Dorchester, Molly is glad to be serving Jesus in the heart of the city! She loves how small neighborhoods in big cities can bring people together in warm, creative ways. Her passions in ministry include leading service-oriented mission trips, community organizing for justice and peace work, and helping people discover ways to integrate a peaceful, moral and dynamic spirituality into their day-to-day lives. She lives and plays in Somerville with her husband Peter, son Rafael and daughter Carmen.
Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett
Minister of Outreach: Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett
Laura Ruth began her work with us in February, 2008. She was raised on the south side of Atlanta, Georgia and has lived in Boston 20 years. She has been a social worker serving homeless families and people with disabilities. Raised in the Christian Church (Independent), then Episcopalian for 25 years, Laura Ruth came home to her congregational roots in the UCC. She earned her Masters of Divinity degree at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge.
Understanding that creativity is a path to God, Laura Ruth whittles, makes furniture, sings, drums, writes, draws, and is a bad but satisfied watercolorist. She lives in Jamaica Plain with Marian (Meck) Groot, her partner of 20 years. They have two god-children who live close by with their moms.
Together with the congregation, Laura Ruth’s work is to sustain and extend the warm welcome of First Church into Davis Sq., Ball Sq., Somerville, and greater Boston.
Church Administrator & Building Supervisor: Jamie Thompson
Jamie joined the staff of First Church in September 2008 and works in the newly renovated church office three days per week. In addition to producing the weekly church bulletins and bimonthly church newsletter, she manages the church’s administrative affairs and oversees building rentals. Prior to joining First Church, Jamie worked in the Stewardship and Development department of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Originally from southwestern Ohio, Jamie first arrived in Boston as a student and immediately fell in love with the city. She holds bachelor of arts degrees in English and philosophy from Boston College and has lived and studied abroad in Oxford, England and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Jamie also graduated from massage therapy school in July 2009 and currently resides in Brighton. Her passions include liberal religion, progressive politics, social justice, books and creative writing, holistic health and the mind/body/spirit connection, traveling budget travel, and parenting her eleven-year-old daughter, Sophia.
Music Director: Thom Whittemore
Thom came to First Church in 2005 and assumed the role of Music Director in 2007. He rehearses and conducts the choir, selects music for congregational singing, works with the Children’s Choir, and plans for the growth and development of the music program.
Thom has been active in church music since he was a boy in South Carolina. He has sung with such notable choirs as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus (under the direction of Robert Shaw), the Chancel Choir of the Cathedral of Christ the King, and the Classical Music Festival Chorus in Eisenstadt, Austria. Thom was previously the choir director at Pisgah Lutheran Church in Lexington, SC.
Thom holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of South Carolina and has studied choral conducting at New England Conservatory. He is a member of the American Choir Directors Association. Thom lives in Somerville with his husband, Tim.
Organist: Joe Turbessi
Joe joined the First Church staff as organist in August 2007. Joe has been a church musician most of his life, starting as a pianist at his home church when he was 12 years old. Since then, he has worked in a variety of faith traditions, including Catholic, Reformed, and Methodist churches. He is a member of the Boston chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Joe is originally from Nunica, a small village in western Michigan. He received his Bachelor of Music from Hope College in Holland, Michigan in 2005, and his Master of Music from the Boston Conservatory in 2008. He is active in the Boston area as a solo pianist, organist, and chamber musician; and works as a staff accompanist at the Boston Conservatory, the Boston Arts Academy, and MIT. He lives in Jamaica Plain.
Sunday School Teacher (Godly Play): Erin Iwanusa
Sunday School Teacher (Flying Hedgehogs): Missy Sturtevant
Missy moved to Somerville in 2007 and has been attending First Church since September 2009. She serves as the Sunday School teacher for the 7-year-old to 11-year-old class, also known as the Flying Hedgehogs. Missy is currently working on her Master of Social Work degree at Wheelock College, and she enjoys spending time with her cats and exploring Boston’s various thrift stores and coffee shops. Her dreams include professionally fighting for equal rights for all.
Nursery Attendant: Renae Saarela
Sexton: Blanca Peña
Blanca Peña is a native of El Salvador, and has been in the Boston area since 1993. She keeps busy as mother to Graciela, Santiago and Emily, cheering their many futbol games, and wife to José of 13 years. She loves to learn from different cultures and to keep growing as a person.
Community Minister: Rev. Kerrie Harthan
Kerrie is a native New Englander who grew up in Lynn and Ipswich, MA and Cape Elizabeth and Brunswick, ME. A Community Minister of daily discipleship, her ministry is one of breaking bread with those who would not darken the door of a church. She’s had many ministry adventures: University and parish ministry, seminary admissions, maritime ministry, boat building ministry, urban environmental ministry with the MassReLeaf Ministry Project and other groups seeking to save endangered urbanwilds of the Charles River Basin.
Kerrie is married to Gloria, and they love to brew beer, garden and gather with friends and family around a crackling fire (or a candle!) at their home. To those who are looking for a faith community she says “Every child needs a family. Every spiritual searcher needs spiritual kin. Every boat needs a safe harbor: First Church is my homeport. It is a welcoming and safe harbor for all.”
Community Minister: Rev. Laura Tuach
Reverend Laura S. Tuach is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and was ordained by the Essex Association of the United Church of Christ in 2001. After graduation, she served as a parish minister at the First Congregational Church in Winchester, MA. She then went on to work as the Associate Director of Partakers, a faith-based, non-profit organization committed to the advancement of restorative justice, rehabilitation, and healing transformation of both prisoners and society.
She now is the Assistant Director of Field Education at Harvard Divinity School, counseling students discerning a call to ministry and working with field education supervisors. She and her husband, Dave, live in Cambridge. She is a yoga practioner and teacher, and has a daily Buddhist meditation practice.
Community Minister: Jason Donnelly
Jason has been a member of First Church since 1997. After completing his Master of Divinity at Andover Newton in 2001, Jason studied theology at Boston College, where he recently earned his Ph.D. Jason began the ordination process with First Church in 2004 and looks forward to a career serving the church as a pastor/scholar. He lives in Watertown with his wife Sue and daughter Ruby and son Abraham.